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Director, Listening and Learning

Global Integrity

Role and organization
Global Integrity is recruiting a Director for Listening and Learning, who will be responsible for developing effective practices for listening and learning, and implementing these practices throughout our external engagement and internal processes. We are looking for someone who not only understands the importance of listening and learning, but also has an extensive and diverse track record of improving organizations’ functions in these areas.

This role will ensure that listening and learning are central to our work, in line with our revised strategy and its focus on supporting partner organizations’ efforts to address complex challenges related to open government, integrity and anti-corruption, and public service delivery. By putting our partners’ perspectives front and center, by listening to their feedback, and by generating evidence about our impact which will inform our advocacy and drive continuous improvement, we aim to enhance our ability to implement our strategy effectively, in ways that meet our partners’ needs.

Established in 2005, and based at the Open Gov Hub in Washington, D.C., the Global Integrity team has helped to shape a governance and development agenda which is increasingly about supporting frontline organizations to craft effective solutions to the challenges that they face in their particular contexts. This position is an opportunity to help shape the evolution not just of Global Integrity, but of the governance and development agenda more broadly, by sharpening our efforts to explore the value of locally-led, learning-centered and adaptive approaches to addressing development challenges, and sharing our insights to inform policy and practice.

Responsibilities
The Director for Listening and Learning, who will work out of the Open Gov Hub and report to the Executive Director, and supervise our Manager for Research and Learning, will be responsible for the following:

Enhancing our ability to listen and respond to the needs of potential partners, local and international, at all stages of our engagement.
Supporting the development of project proposals, so that they are focused on the problem they are intended to address, with clear theories of change that are aligned with our overall strategy.
Ensuring that all of our projects include a strong listening and learning angle, listening to our partners’ needs and their feedback on our performance, and supporting their efforts to operate in learning-centered and adaptive ways.
Working with project teams to support partner-led efforts to collaboratively craft theories of change and design fit-for-purpose monitoring, evaluation and learning systems.
Designing and implementing effective practices for listening and learning in our internal processes (30%)

Strengthening our monitoring, evaluation and learning practice, and our knowledge management systems, so that our decisions about whether and how to adapt our approach—at project, cross-project, and strategy level—are informed by high-quality and timely evidence.
Developing the culture of listening and learning across Global Integrity, at all levels—from the Board through the Senior Management Team, Project Leads and Project Officers—to improve the performance of the organization, our projects and individual team members.
Supporting Global Integrity’s engagement in broader discussions about learning-centered and adaptive approaches to addressing development challenges (10%)

Synthesizing and sharing evidence and insights generated through our support for partners’ efforts to operate in learning-centered and adaptive ways, along with tools and resources developed.
Participating in broader discussions about learning-centered and adaptive approaches to addressing development challenges, to share Global Integrity’s experience and ensure that we remain up to speed on listening and learning practices.
Characteristics, competencies and experience
Characteristics: We value curiosity, collaboration, inclusion, and humility and hire people who are excited to live those values. In addition, the person playing the role of Director for Listening and Learning will need to be both creative and systematic, have outstanding communications skills, enjoy building relationships and bringing people together, and be comfortable with taking initiative and operating adaptively in situations where there are different interests, competing deadlines and changing circumstances.

They should also be someone who takes a systems perspective; able to see the bigger picture, keen to pay attention to its component parts, comfortable with complexity and enthusiastic about emergence. Experience with applying systems thinking in particular projects would be a big plus; experience of doing that in relation to health systems would be amazing. Last but not least, they should be somewhat obsessed with listening and learning, in order to improve performance, effectiveness and impact!

Competencies: We plan to hire someone with competencies in the following areas:

Leadership – ability to develop a vision for listening and learning that the team is excited to put into practice.
Listening – extensive practical experience of improving organizations’ ability to listen to their partners, and take action on the basis of feedback received. Experience in design thinking and practice would be a plus.
Learning – outstanding ability to design and implement M/E/L plans that are appropriate for organizations that focus on collaboratively addressing complex and fundamentally political governance challenges.
Facilitation – strong skills in bringing together people with different perspectives to address particular challenges; brainstorming solutions, evaluating alternatives, and committing to action. Experience with remote facilitation is highly desirable.
Coaching – demonstrated ability to support colleagues and partners in ways that enable them to draw on their strengths, make the most of their skills, and develop their capacity.
Management – ability to support the management of individual projects, and of organizational initiatives, including through effective prioritization, time management and relationship management.
Representation – demonstrated ability to confidently represent Global Integrity in engagement with senior colleagues at partner organizations, including potential funders.
Languages: Fluent English is essential. Additional languages, including Spanish and French, would also be very welcome.
Experience: We care more about your skills than about where and how you have acquired those skills. If you can make a strong case why your unorthodox experience equips you to play this role, we are open to outstanding applications from left-field! That said, we expect the successful applicant to have the following sorts of experience:

Graduate degree in a relevant area of study including, but not limited to, monitoring and evaluation, public policy, development studies, geography, anthropology, psychology and political science.
First-hand experience of the sorts of governance-related challenges that Global Integrity helps to address, including in developing countries, from extensive work and/or life experience.
8-12 years experience working to improve organizations’ abilities to listen and learn, with that experience acquired through roles with nonprofits, research institutes, government, bilateral and multilateral donors, the private sector and philanthropic organizations, with a focus on issues relating to governance and global development.
Salary and benefits
Global Integrity offers a competitive benefits package including health and disability benefits, as well as a modest life insurance policy, and currently pays 100% of the premiums associated with those benefits. The organization also provides generous paid time off, contributes to employees’ retirement accounts and provides for a transit benefit.

Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience. We expect to hire within the $80k to $110k salary range.

How to apply
At Global Integrity, we strive to create a workplace that reflects our global mission and the multicultural community in which we work. Applicants who embrace our values and strengthen our diversity are encouraged to apply. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

To apply please submit a cover letter outlining why you think you would be an outstanding fit for the role, along with a resume or CV, here.

Candidates should have the right to work in the US. See page 3 of the Form I9.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled, although candidates are encouraged to apply by May 1.